Chapters tagged aftercare

by Levantin

Chapter 55

The document was done. On the desk lay the freshly printed stack of Emma’s geography assignment—neatly structured, typed, tucked into a clean plastic sleeve. I had spent three hours hunched over it, the resin cage chafing with every shift on the office chair. It was just before...

by Levantin

Chapter 92

Loona did not pull away from me in haste. Her hands remained on my shoulders, firm and grounding, while the trembling in my chest only gradually subsided. Every breath felt like dragging myself up from the depths of freezing, pitch-black water. When she lifted her head and looke...

by Levantin

Chapter 93

The cool linen of the box-spring bed felt like an alien world. I lay flat on my back, the duvet pulled to my chest, eyes pinned to the ceiling where the streetlamp cast faint, amber ribbons through the drapes. The loose grey cotton boxers rested lightly against my skin. No base r...

by Levantin

Chapter 94

The pale autumn light creeping through the curtains woke me. For the first time in weeks, waking up wasn't a sudden jolt of numb suffocation. No cold stainless steel biting mercilessly into my pubic bone at the first involuntary morning shift. The loose cotton rested easily on m...

by Levantin

Chapter 103

I stepped through the doorway, eased the heavy wooden door shut without a sound, and turned the key in the latch. The quiet, metallic click echoed behind my eyes like the final sealing of an airlock against the outside world. The air inside the room was heavy, dense, and suffoca...

by Levantin

Chapter 104

A dull, milky Sunday light filtered through the slats of the blinds. As I blinked awake, the first thing I registered was the heavy, steady warmth at my side. Loona was still deep in sleep, her face half-buried in my pillow, an arm draped loosely across my chest. Directly below,...

by Levantin

Chapter 110

A long, unsteady exhale broke from Loona’s throat as her fingers slowly loosened their grip in my hair. Her thighs parted, freeing my face. My forehead dropped against the sofa cushion, chest heaving as I fought for air, her taste lingering hot and intoxicating on my lips. My sh...